THE BRONZE-WINGED JACANA. 
359 
brouze ; rump and upper tail-coverts barred with chestnut and purple ; 
central tail-feathers bronze^ the others barred diagonally with pale chest- 
nut^ greenish brown and white ; quills bluish black ; a pale stripe over the 
eye ; sides of the head, chin and throat white ; front and sides of the neck 
and breast bright buff ; abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts white ; sides 
of the abdomen and under wing- coverts purplish black; flanks and thighs 
barred with pale bulF and black. 
Basal half of upper mandible and the frontal shield livid blue, the portion 
near the gape pink ; remainder of the upper and the whole lower mandible 
green ; a rose- coloured spot on either side the base of the upper mandible; 
iris brown; legs, toes and claws bluish slate-colour. The colour of the 
bill is subject to considerable variation. 
Length 10*5 inches, tail 2, wing 6*2, tarsus 2*6, bill from gape 1'3. The 
female is very much larger, the wing measuring 7 inches and the tarsus 3'2. 
The tail consists of ten feathers only. 
The young bird assumes the black plumage of the adult at an advanced 
age, probably at the second spring moult. 
The Bronze-winged Jacana is excessively common in all the swamps of 
the Province, except perhaps in the south of Tenasserim, where Mr. Davison 
did not observe it. 
It is spread over a great part of India, the Indo-Burmese countries, 
Siam and Cochin China. It has not yet been recorded from any part of 
the Malay peninsula, but it is known to occur in Java and it probably 
inhabits Sumatra and Borneo. 
This handsome bird has the habits of the Water-hens, being found in 
swamps and ponds which are overrun with weeds and floating plants, upon 
which it walks with great facility. Its mode of flight, its rounded body, 
the colour of its eggs and other points show its affinities, however, with the 
Plovers and not with the Water-hens. It is, as a rule, stupidly tame, 
walking about unconcernedly near the sportsman, and taking wing reluc- 
tantly. It has a very peculiar note. The breeding-season is during the 
rains ; the nest, which is large and made of weeds, is placed on the edges of 
swamps ; and the eggs, which are usually six in number, are pale buff" thickly 
covered with a mass of entangled black lines. 
